The Russell Brand Show (radio show)

Infobox Radio Show
show_name = The Russell Brand Show


imagesize = 200px
caption = Current show logo
other_names =
format = Comedy, Talk
runtime = 120 minutes
country = UK
language = English
home_station = BBC Radio 2
syndicates =
presenter = Russell Brand Matt Morgan
starring =
creator =
writer =
director =
producer = Nic Philps
Paul Sheehan
newsreader = Andrea Simmons
executive_producer =
record_location = Western House, London
first_aired = April 9 2006
last_aired = Present
num_series =
num_episodes = 134 (as of October 4, 2008)
audio_format = Stereophonic sound
website = [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/brand/ Official website]
podcast = [http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio2/brand/rss.xml Feed URL]

The Russell Brand Show is a Saturday night radio show in the United Kingdom which is broadcast on BBC Radio 2. The show is hosted by comedian Russell Brand who started his radio career in 2002 on a Sunday afternoon show on Xfm. Russell's co-host is long-term friend, Matt Morgan who has worked with Brand on other TV projects. Noel Gallagher was also recently described by Russell, as a third, unofficial, co-host.

Each show is concluded by a summing-up poem by Mr Gee. The show originally featured contributions from comedian Trevor Lock, who left in March 2007 to pursue other projects including his own show on BBC 6 Music.

Beginnings on 6 Music

In December 2005, Brand filled in for Nemone with co-presenter Karl Pilkington for three one-off radio shows for BBC 6Music. In April 2006, Brand was given a regular Sunday afternoon slot on the station. Karl Pilkington was advertised as being his co-host and appeared with him on the first show. However, Pilkington's commitment to The Ricky Gervais Show podcast conflicted with 6Music's desire to release a downloadable podcast of the show, [As confirmed by Brand's co-presenter Trevor LockWhen?] and he left. Pilkington was replaced with Brand's long-term contributor Matt Morgan and comedian Trevor Lock (who left in March 2007 to start his own radio show). Brand's 6Music radio show was ranked as high as number 2 in the iTunes most-subscribed podcast chart.

Move to Radio 2

The show was transferred to BBC Radio 2, the UK's most popular radio station, from Saturday November 18, 2006 in the 9 p.m. - 11 p.m. timeslot. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6109170.stm Russell Brand lands Radio 2 job] at BBC News]

The Radio 2 controller, Lesley Douglas, who is also the controller of 6Music, said "Russell established himself as a genuine radio talent on 6 Music and has done a brilliant job there. Radio 2 gives him a fresh challenge, and a new audience. He proved a hit with Radio 2 listeners when he stood in for Mark Radcliffe earlier this year".cite web |url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/nov/02/bbc.radio |title= Brand slotted into Radio 2|publisher= The Guardian|accessdate=2008-06-15 ]

In October 2006, BBC announced a 40% rise in listeners to BBC digital radio, which they claimed was largely attributed to host Russell Brand. According to industry ratings body Rajar, the station was attracting over 400,000 listeners. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6086738.stm 'Brand effect' boost for 6 Music] at BBC News]

Because of Brand's work in movies and stand-up, the show had to be broadcast from Hawaii in 2007 for 3 months and more recently Los Angeles, with Matt and Mr Gee remaining in London. Since May 2008 Matt has joined Russell in L.A. in order to pursue opportunities within the film industry, in particular with writing. If Brand is on holiday either a best bits is aired or the show will be replaced with usually Lauren Laverne filling in. In the absence of Matt Morgan the following have acted as guest presenters alongside Brand: Noel Fielding, Simon Amstell, Alan Carr, David Baddiel and Noel Gallagher.

On the May 31, 2008 show Brand announced that the show was now produced by Vanity Projects, the production company that he owns and has been part of with many of his previous TV shows.

how format

The radio show often features a phone call, or appearance by Noel Gallagher of Oasis, or other celebrities, and discussions revolving around listeners' emails, text messages or phone calls. The music on the show is decided by the hosts and because of Brand's admiration for him, songs by Morrissey or The Smiths are often played.

Current features

*"Jingle race war" – Listeners send in their homemade jingles for features. A "race war" was chosen as the BBC suspended phone-in competitions contests after phone-in scandals.
*"GAY!" – Listeners write or phone in with gay-related problems or issues for the hosts or guests to solve.
*"Matt's Cultural Review" – Matt reviews some aspects of culture, including restaurants, theatre shows and cities.
*"Nanecdote" – Listeners send in humourus anectdotes about Nans.
*"News Stories" – Russell and Matt discus bizarre news stories, e.g. breast-milk food products
*"Sounds nice, Is nasty" - Listeners send in words that sound pleasant but are not nice things.
*"Mr. Gee's poem" – Each show is concluded by a poem by Mr. Gee, "the poet laureate of the show", which sums up what has happened each week.

Past features

*"Cry for Help" – Consisted of listeners phoning and asking Brand and Morgan for advice.
*"Tramps That Look Like Matt" – Listeners sent in pictures of tramps that look like Brand's co-host Matt.
*"Trevor's Sonic Enigma" – A regular feature on the BBC 6 Music show, Trevor Lock played out a short cryptic sketch which alluded to the title of a popular song. Listeners to the show then had to guess what this song was, and winning entrants would be invited to the studio the following week. In its early days, this feature was known as "Trevor Done a Noise".

Guests

Brand has had a wide array of celebrity guests either in the studio or over the phone on his show. Notable appearances include Morrissey, Ronnie Wood, Kristen Bell, Jonah Hill, Ricky Gervais, Slash, David Walliams, David Mitchell, Courtney Love, Lily Allen, Victoria Wood, David Icke, Chrissie Hynde, Dale Winton, Jonny Lee Miller, Seth Rogen, Cilla Black, Guy Pearce, Henry Winkler, Richard Griffiths, Richard Dawkins and Bill Hader

Controversies

In March 2008 the show was exposed for faking a competition in April 2006 when the show was broadcasting on BBC 6 Music. [cite web |url= http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a87417/whiley-brand-shows-faked-competitions.html|title= Whiley, Brand shows faked competitions|publisher= Digital Spy|accessdate=2008-06-15 ] The show was broadcast on 9 April 2006 in which listeners were invited to take part in a competition via text message. The show gave the impression that it was broadcasting live but it was actually a pre-recorded show. The winner of the competition was a member of BBC staff. BBC 6 Music later gave an apology and offered listeners who entered the competition compensation for the cost of the text message. [cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/russell_brand/ |title= Apology from BBC 6 Music|publisher= BBC 6 Music |accessdate=2008-06-15 ]

Podcast

When the show was broadcast on BBC 6Music, Brand's show was downloaded 140,000 times in September 2006, the only programme from a digital station to appear in the BBC's top 10 podcasts.cite web |url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/nov/02/bbc.radio |title= Brand slotted into Radio 2|publisher= The Guardian|accessdate=2008-06-15 ]

In January, 2007, the show reached the number one spot on the iTunes podcast charts and held that position until April 2007 when it was overtaken by "The Apprentice" podcast and continued to go up and down the charts prompting Brand to start a campaign to get it back to number 1 by promising that he and Morgan would rent an ice cream truck and travel the country giving out free ice cream. This eventually succeeded, and on September 1 2007, the show was broadcast live from an ice cream truck on Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The podcast still regularly tops the charts and whenever it slumps Brand reminds listeners to continue to spread word about the podcast.

Videos

"Viddycasts" began on the June 14, 2008 show and consist of footage filmed before, during and after the show. They are available on the BBC website. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/brand/viddyindex.shtml BBC - Radio 2 - Shows - Russell Brand - Videos] ]

Awards

References

ee also

*The Russell Brand Show (television show)

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/brand/ The Russell Brand Show] at BBC Radio 2
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/brand/ The Russell Brand Show Podcast] at BBC Radio 2
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/russellbrand/ Mr Gee's Show Blog] at BBC Radio 2